What does the IVHQ Registration Fee cover?

Being transparent and making sure IVHQ volunteers understand the value they receive for their Registration Fee is important to us. We know that our volunteers work hard to save or fundraise for their volunteering abroad experience and we believe in being open and honest about what our costs go towards.

The Registration Fee is really important because paying it confirms a volunteer’s place on their chosen program. Once you’ve been accepted to volunteer with IVHQ , you can log in to your MyIVHQ account and pay your Registration Fee of US$299 to confirm your spot. The Registration Fee also enables IVHQ to provide a whole range of value-add services that support you to have the best possible volunteering experience.

What does the Registration Fee mean for you?

Affordable program fees
At IVHQ we work hard to ensure we can provide IVHQers with world class volunteer programs at affordable prices. As the world’s most popular volunteer travel organization, we receive access to heavily discounted program fees for our IVHQ volunteers, meaning it is always cheaper to volunteer through IVHQ.

Service and support
We employ over 30 passionate staff members in New Zealand to communicate with our volunteers and provide exceptional customer service. Our team supports you every step of the way, answering your questions, offering recommendations, listening to your feedback and working with our local teams to ensure everything runs smoothly. Ask us anything – we know our programs inside out and we’ve been doing this for a while now, so tricky questions are our forte!

Training and preparation
The specialized IVHQ Program Manager you are connected with will provide you with all the information and support you need to prepare for your volunteer program, but we also provide you with a whole range of other materials to help you to get ready to go. There is a detailed Program Information Booklet, which covers everything from visa requirements and vaccinations through to meals and transport details. On top of this, we’ve developed a set of interactive training modules, which you’ll be encouraged to complete as soon as you’ve registered. These modules cover topics including how to stay safe while volunteering abroad, and how to ensure you make a valuable contribution to your host community.

The world’s best volunteer programs
As the world’s leading volunteer abroad organization, we have offers from thousands of organizations around the world wishing to receive IVHQ volunteers. We carefully select our local teams, ensuring volunteers pay fair and affordable fees, make a genuine impact, and have an awesome time while doing so. When you go on an IVHQ volunteer abroad program, you know you are volunteering with the best.

Safety and constant improvement
To ensure we are providing the world’s best (as well as the most affordable) volunteer programs, we travel to visit each one every year. We meet with volunteers and local teams, visit the placements and agree areas for program development and improvement. We also conduct risk management audits on these frequent visits and support our local teams with their risk management practices, which all helps us to ensure IVHQ volunteers are supported to stay safe and sound while they’re abroad. In short, the Registration Fee that you pay enables us to constantly improve the quality and safety of our programs, which is hugely important to us.

Sustainability and the IVHQ Fund
Ensuring IVHQ programs have a sustainable long-term impact is a big focus for us. Not only do we spend a lot of time in communities abroad understanding how we can best achieve this, a portion of the registration fee paid by every IVHQ volunteer is allocated to the IVHQ Fund, an IVHQ-backed initiative that invests thousands every year into important social and environmental projects. Our head office is based in the Taranaki region of New Zealand and we established the IVHQ Fund in 2008 to invest directly in the social and environmental initiatives that make this community thrive. To date, the IVHQ Fund has invested more than $200,000 into locally-run clubs, organizations and social enterprises that address important social or environmental needs.

To pay your IVHQ Registration Fee and become an official IVHQ volunteer, log into My IVHQ. If you have not yet applied for an IVHQ volunteer program, you can apply online today.